Friday, October 24, 2014

LEGOLAND BRICK OR TREAT NIGHTS: REVIEW

I took the family to the LEGOLAND Brick-or-Treat party night last week. It was our first time attending a Halloween-themed event at an amusement park and it was fun, fun, fun!

LEGOLAND provided my family with complimentary full day tickets to experience the park & the Brick-or-Treat party night. We arrived at the resort around noon and our first stop was LEGOLAND's Sea Life Aquarium.

My kids, ages 6-11, found the aquarium to be pretty amazing, but they were anxious to get to the main LEGOLAND park and experience as many rides as possible.

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Sea Life Aquarium.

We spent about 45 minutes inside the aquarium taking photos with sharks, walking through tunnels, picking up a brick-or-treat snack, making friends with starfish, and playing with Legos before making our way to the main gates.

Once inside LEGOLAND we received Brick-or-Treat wristbands that would allow us to remain in the park after 5pm.

In the time we had at the park we visited the Lego Movie set, went on three rides, toured the Lego Factory building, and traded about 10 Lego mini-figures with employees before half of the park shut down for Brick-or-Treat.

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The Lego Movie Experience was nothing short of awesome!

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Volvo Driving School. By far my kid's favorite ride!

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At 5pm we went to the car, ate our picnic dinner, and the kids changed into their Halloween costumes.

Only half of the park is open for Brick-or-Treat and it quickly became very crowded with kids of all ages dressed in costumes, but it was pretty fun to see how creative many families are with matching costumes, and homemade creations.

My girls wanted to enter the costume contest where the 1st prize winner in each category wins 4 annual passes to LEGOLAND. I took the girls to the stage for the contest and while they waited for their category to be called we all enjoyed watching the parade of costumes on stage. While we relaxed in the audience, by husband and son explored Miniland USA and the treat station lines.
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Costume Contest for best Lego Theme. Our favorite was UniKitty and two kids who were a Minecraft Cow made out of cardboard boxes.

My husband came back to report that the stations were giving out everything from apples, to chips, to full size boxes of Legos. However, the Brick-or-Treat lines were up to 45 minutes long throughout the park. We decided to hold off on treat stations and enjoy the rides and love shows instead.
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Miniland USA line. One mom I spoke with said she spent 25 minutes in the line to reach the first of two brick-or-treat stations. She said the line was constantly moving though, which helps keeps the kids from getting fussy.

The reason why the Brick-or-Treat lines have a long wait. Only one person passing out treats at each station. It makes for nice quality time for each child, but it takes a while to get everyone through.

After the costume contest we went on the Dune Raiders ride and the kids played in Pharaoh's Revenge. By 8pm the brick-or-treat lines outside of Miniland USA were only five minutes long. Yippee! We breezed through seven stations in no time at all and had plenty of time to catch some more live entertainment, watch the firework show, and browse The Big Shop before heading home.

There are lots of Halloween elements throughout the park. There was a strolling juggler, stage shows, dancers, stilt walkers, and even a real life fortune teller!

The Lego Master Builders also added elements such as spider webs, zombies, ghosts, and skeletons to nearly every model in Miniland USA to make sure the minfigures were in the Halloween spirit.

Bring your good camera to Brick-or-Treat. There are lots of photo opportunities with hay bales and pumpkins; and your whole family can fit in a giant Lego pumpkin at the main entrance.
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There were 12 treat stations throughout LEGOLAND and Sea Life Aquarium. Some stations were clustered together along a path, so the one line was for two or three brick-or-treat stations. We didn't trick-or-treat until after 8pm, when most of the lines were only a few minutes long.

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One of my kid's loot from visiting eight Brick-or-Treat stations. Include a full size Chima Speeder!

One thing that I liked was that it was very family friendly,even during the day the only guests in the park were families. With the crowds and somewhat long lines every visitor was polite and patient.It was truly remarkable.

LEGOLAND offers two types of tickets for Brick-or-Treat nights. Tickets for the Brick-or-Treat event only, valid from 5pm-9pm are $40. Brick-or-Treat plus full day admission, valid from 10am-9pm, are $65-$75. Ages 2 and under are free.

The last days to experience LEGOLAND's Brick-or-Treat 2014 is Friday, October 25 & Saturday, October 26.

Keep in mind that LEGOLAND is an hour and half drive from the Los Angeles area. Here are some tips for visiting LEGOLAND for the distant traveler.

Plan to stay all day. This includes, arriving early and staying late. The parking lot opens an hour prior to the park opening. Save time by arriving earlier than park opening time to get a good parking spot and avoid waiting in lines to pay for parking. The main LEGOLAND store remains open for one hour past closing time. Use this time to browse for souvenirs after closing time and use the open hours to play in the park.

Bring your own food. Pack snacks to take with you inside LEGOLAND, but also pack a lunch & dinner to cut down on costs. For reference the Sea Life Aquarium Café has kids meals for $8.25, and adult meals range from $7 to $11.

Pay the extra money for preferred parking. The LEGOLAND preferred parking lot is less than a hundred feet from the entrance. If you pack lunch and dinner it's easy for the whole family to head back to the car to relax a bit. Parking close to the entrance means you don't have to try to cram everything into the stroller, it's easy for an adult to make a quick trip back to the car for something.

Pack pajamas for the kids. If you stay late, there is a good chance the kids will fall asleep on the way home. To avoid lugging dirty sleepy kids into the house, give the kids a quick sponge bath with a wet washcloth, and have them change into pajamas before you leave the parking lot.

Stay at the LEGOLAND hotel to make it your family's visit to LEGOLAND a more memorable experience.